Sure, hindsight is 20/20. But this is just too much! Is there such a thing as journalistic malpractice?

JewishWorldReview.com |
Everyone knows Warren Buffett's saying, "Be fearful when others are greedy and greedy when others are fearful." It's the most repeated investment maxim in history.

But here's the truth: It's much easier to say, "I'll be greedy when others are fearful" than it is to do it.

There have been four distinct incredible times to be an investor over the last century: 1933, 1942, 1982 and 2009. During each period, you could have doubled your money over the following three years. And during each period, newspapers around the country preached a constant message: Be fearful. Sadly, most of us listened. We are the "others" Buffett was talking about.

I dug through a pile of news archives to see what the media was saying about stocks and the economy during the four greatest buying opportunities of the last century. What I found is what "fearful" looks like.

2009: S&P 500 set to return 104 percent over the next three years

"The bottom line is that there is ample reason to worry about slipping into a depression." -- The Wall Street Journal, March 4, 2009

"How Low Can The Stock Market Go? Lower ... much lower ... Expect ... new lows reached in the next months and the year ahead." -- Forbes, March 12, 2009

"A market for window-shoppers only." -- MSNMoney, March 9, 2009

"Renowned investor George Soros said Friday the world financial system has effectively disintegrated, and there's no near-term bottom to this financial crisis in sight." -- Market Oracle, Feb. 23, 2009

"As bad as things are, they can still get worse, and get a lot worse." -- WiredPRNews, March 4, 2009

"Turnover on exchange in 1942 smallest since 1913" -- The New York Times, Jan. 1, 1943

"So much of the stock market's judgment of the value of common stocks is centering about how they are faring or are likely to fare in a war economy that the whole price structure would be open to radical revision if the war should come to an unexpectedly early end." -- Daily Boston Globe, Jan. 1, 1942

"While stock exchange prices have been on the downgrade for several months the average had not until today penetrated the lowest range of the last four years." Associated Press, April 15, 1942

"Serving as a leading motive for a good part of the selling, brokers reported, was the wide belief that whatever the form of the new tax bill it would likely cut down sharply the profits available for dividends for a great many corporations." -- The Telegraph-Herald, March 11, 1942

"Buying was held at low ebb, brokers said, by fears of new complications in international affairs as a result of bombing of Paris Suburbs." -- The Telegraph-Herald, March 4, 1942

1933:

"Economic Breakdown Made 25 Percent of the Population Jobless." Milwaukee Journal, Aug. 1933

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Most investors want big returns but fear scary headlines. History repeats over and over again that the two actually go hand in hand. Even if we repeat Buffett's "greedy when others are fearful" mantra a thousand times, the idea that the biggest returns come when the outlook is the darkest seems so absurd that most won't be able to follow it. Those who can invariably do the best.

We'll have more panics, recessions and crashes. Most investors will become fearful. What about you?